Royals Drop Hitmen 4-1, Win 6th Straight Wednesday

Matthew Phillips scored twice and added an assist as the Victoria Royals won their 6th in a row, defeating the visiting Calgary Hitmen 4-1 Wednesday night.

Up 2-1 after 20 minutes, the Royals Phillips scored back to back power play goals in the middle frame :55 seconds apart to extend the lead to 4-1.

“Tonight we had a case were we had some opportunities that were presented to us, and we took advantage of it,” said Royals Head Coach Dave Lowry,

“The power play created some opportunities and we capitalized.”

Dante Hannoun and Jack Walker had a goal and assist each, while Alex Forsberg chipped in with a pair of helpers.

Hannoun earned the game winner, responding :17 seconds after Calgary had tied the game at 1-1 in the first period. It was Hannoun’s 20th goal in his 100th career game.

“The one shift that defined the game was after we gave up the goal, and they tied the game up, our next shift went out went out and scored,” said Lowry,

“For us that was the defining moment, you want to talk about shifts after goals, and how critical they are – tonight it was the difference for us.”

Victoria (32-15-2-3, 69pts) extends their point streak to 9 games (8-0-1-0), and move 4 back of top seed Kelowna, and 4 up on Prince George who fell in Prince Albert.

The club received honourable mention in the CHL Top 10 earlier in the day.

Victoria went 2 for 8 on the power play, while shutting down all 5 Calgary man advantages. It was a physical and penalty filled affair, with 65 minutes worth handed out.

Coleman Vollrath stopped 28 of 29 to earn the victory, while Nik Amundrud allowed 4 goals on 26 Victoria shots. Vollrath has only allowed 4 goals over his last 4 games and was nominated for CHL Goaltender of the Week.

Jackson Houck scored the lone goal for Calgary, who saw their 3 game win streak snapped as they kicked off their 4 game BC Division road trip.

It was also the return of former Victoria defenseman Keegan Kanzig who earned 3rd star.

Flyers first round pick, and World Junior defenseman Travis Sanheim extended his point streak to 13 games.

Phillips now has 30 goals in his rookie campaign to lead all freshman, and is tied for the rookie scoring lead with Egor Babenko of the Hurricanes with 58 points in 52 games (30g 28a). It was back to back 2 goal, 1 assist efforts for Phillips.

Walker extended his point streak to 5 games, collecting 11 points (3g 8a) in that span.

The line of Forsberg, Hannoun and Phillips collected 7 points.

It was the 700th game in franchise history (315-320-28-37), and the Royals record of (178-135-11-16).

Up next, Victoria heads to the States for a pair of games. Friday night at Tri City, and Saturday in Portland. They’ll return home for a Holiday Monday matinee at 2pm versus Everett.